It really is grim up north in new detective drama Shetland, Drama Shorts On iPlayer: My Jihad has a Muslim speed-dating and Insane Fight Club goes behind the scenes of Glasgow’s unusual wrestling championships.

Shetland BBC1, 9pm

Douglas Henshall returns to the windswept Scottish isles to pick up crime-fighting duties as DI Jimmy Perez for three new two-part murder mysteries. An atmospheric chill hovers over his opening case as birds peck at the body of a young woman found by the water’s edge. As Perez races against the rising tide to collect the forensic evidence that could identify the killer, he’s watched by creepy loner Magnus Bain (Brian Cox), whose house overlooks the scene. What connection does have to the crime? And is it the latest strike by a serial killer? Concludes next week.

The Taste C4, 9pm

Spoon-sized servings have added a surprisingly entertaining twist to the world of the TV cook-off. And this competition has stayed true to its title: there’s literally no room to hide on a spoon and we can swallow the fact that either the food tastes good or it doesn’t. Tonight, French chef Pierre Koffmann casts his verdict as the final four – Chloe, Debbie, Dixie and Kelly – go spoon-to-spoon for the last time to prove themselves the most naturally gifted cook in Britain.

Drama Shorts On iPlayer: My Jihad BBC iPlayer

The BBC’s latest salvo in a bid to establish iPlayer as an online contender in the original drama stakes, giving subscription channels such as Netflix and Lovefilm a run for their money, is a trio of 15-minute tales available from today. Pick of the bunch is My Jihad, which stars Hamza Jeetooa as Nazir, a good-hearted but cash-strapped Muslim looking for a marriage based on love and affection but where religion comes first. So is a speed-dating event really the best bet for getting a result?

David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities Watch, 8pm & 8.30pm

The emperor penguin – star of movie Happy Feet, whose chicks snuggle down on their parents’ feet – is among the fascinating creatures under scrutiny in tonight’s two episodes from David Attenborough. The first examines the remarkable world of life on ice but it’s in the second episode that things get really mind-boggling. Watch and wonder as Attenborough takes us in close on the magic and unique scientific properties of spiders’ silk and on weaver birds creating their intricately crafted nests.

Insane Fight Club BBC1, 10.35pm

The first rule of Insane Fight Club is you don’t talk about Insane Fight Club. But we’ll break that rule and body-slam you into this bloodspattered report on Glasgow’s Insane Championship Wrestling, a grapple franchise aimed at an over-18s crowd that spills out of the ring and into the streets as it takes wrestling to the next level. ‘It’s a performance art, it’s a stunt show,’ says ICW’s Mark Dallas. ‘It’s theatre – theatre where people get the s*** kicked out of them.’

Film of the day The Silence Of The Lambs ITV4, 10.30pm

Horror movies rarely win Oscars – if they do it’s for things like best make-up. But this 1991 masterpiece swept the board, winning all five major categories, including best film. Adapted from Thomas Harris’s bestseller it is, of course, notorious for starring one of cinema’s ultimate villains, Dr Hannibal ‘the Cannibal’ Lecter (Anthony Hopkins).

Lecter is the brilliant psychiatrist with a penchant for eating his patients, who starts the story banged up in the dungeon of a marvellously gothic institute for the criminally insane. There, FBI rookie Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) attempts to coerce him into helping her to track down a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill. Hopkins’s performance, and the delicious cat-and-mouse dynamic between him and Foster, is what makes this superior pulp fiction so memorable. However, it’s also a taut thriller in its own right that never puts a foot wrong.